Carnage behind Ireland's Mcgeough at Guatemala finish line | Video

Cormac Mcgeough spotted the nasty booby trap just metres before the line but the riders who came in after him were taken out hard in multiple crashes

Cormac Mcgeough may have collected another UCI-ranked win at Vuelta Guatemala (2.2), making for a great day out for the Irish international, but he was also lucky to avoid the same disaster than unfolded behind him.

When the Irish Canal's Java rider crossed the line, a confetti erupted on the finishing straight; a feature used by the road organisers to celebrate the winner each day. But for the riders just behind, it created a booby trap of the speed bump, inexplicably, just before the finish line.

When Mcgeough came up the finishing straight, the mountains of confetti hadn't been fired off yet, and that meant he had a clear look at the road. He had his two hands in the air a long way from the line, but put them back on the bars, jumped a small sharp speed bump when he saw it, and then began celebrating again.

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Unfortunately, the riders in his wake were not so lucky and there were multiple nasty crashes as solo riders were just relaxing before the chequered flag, or others were sprinting in groups, and were taken out by the crazy finish area set-up, as the video below shows.

Mcgeough won the stage solo, by some 47 seconds from Jhonatan Stiven Chaves (Nu Colombia) and Donovan Ramírez (7C-Economy-Lacoinex), who safely sprinted it out for 2nd and 3rd.

But when Mateo Sanchez (Orgullo Paisa) came to the line in 4th place, two minutes down on his own, he was taken out badly by the speed bump hidden by the confetti. And two minutes later 5th place Esdras Morales (Eca Electricidad) came towards the line on his own and he too was taken out.

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Then came a large grouping, sprinting it out for 6th, the speed bump - which the riders clearly could not see because of the celebratory confetti covering the road - caused many in the group to come down hard. The finish area then resembled a hospital A&E department, with riders all being patched up for their crash injuries.

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